Queens Of The Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age is an American Grammy Award-nominated rock ^{rock music} band from Palm Desert ^{Palm Desert, California} , California, United States, formed in 1997. Originally formed under the name Gamma Ray by guitarist Josh Homme, following the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy music which has been described by Homme as 'robot rock,' saying that he "wanted to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, and just pound it into your head." Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences.

 
Early career (1996–1999)

Queens of the Stone Age began with Josh Homme in 1996. After the breakup of Kyuss in 1995, Homme had briefly joined The Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band of his own. Originally naming his new project 'Gamma Ray', Homme was forced to change the name in 1997, as German power metal band Gamma Ray ^{Gamma Ray (band)} was threatening to sue:



On why the band chose the name 'Queens of the Stone Age' rather than 'Kings of the Stone Age':



The band's first release was Gamma Ray, a two-track EP featuring the songs "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self titled debut as 'If Only'), released in January 1996, featuring Joshua Homme (Kyuss), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam), Van Conner (Screaming Trees) and John McBain (Monster Magnet).
The band's first live appearance was probably November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle ^{Seattle, Washington} , Washington. In December of the same year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which was the first official release by the band under the name Queens of the Stone Age, and featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 just prior to their break-up.

The band released their self-titled debut, Queens of the Stone Age ^{Queens of the Stone Age (album)} (1998) on Loose Groove records (the album was also released on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records), which was recorded with Homme handling both guitar- and bass guitar-playing duties (though basswork is credited to Homme's alter-ego, Carlo Von ***ron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums ^{Drum kit} , and included several other instrumental and vocal contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch ^{Hutch (Sound Engineer)} . Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees' vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable to due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined and touring commenced. Consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members, this is widely regarded as QOTSA's original lineup. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. A recording of a phone message which plays the voice of Oliveri stating his decision to join the band can be heard at the end of the album's final song, "I Was a Teenage Hand Model". From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently. By the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández was no longer in the band.


Rated R (1999–2001)



2000's Rated R ^{Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album)} featured a myriad of musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching ^{David Catching} , Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Wal-Mart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, the Foo Fighters ^{Foo Fighters (band)} , Hole ^{Hole (band)} , and a place at Ozzfest 2000. Following his work on the album, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he'd hold until late-2005.

Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4.15":




Songs for the Deaf (2001–2004)


, bassist 1998–2004 performing with the band at the 2003 V Festival ^{V festival#V2003} .

Frequent touring for Rated R generated support for the band which grew when Foo Fighters ^{Foo Fighters (band)} frontman and former Nirvana ^{Nirvana (band)} drummer Dave Grohl joined in late 2001/early 2002 to record their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August, again featuring Mark Lanegan, as well as adding former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line up following the album's release. Although Songs for the Deaf gained major attention, Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the album's supporting tour by former Danzig ^{Danzig (band)} drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full time. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track Mosquito Song were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin (on viola and piano) and Dean Ween on guitar.

Songs for the Deaf was a critical and commercial success and its popularity peaked when the album reached gold status in 2003, with sales peaking at over 900,000 copies. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former voted Triple J radio's number 1 song and peaking just outside of the Billboard Top 40 ^{Billboard Hot 100} . Both "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). "No One Knows" also re-appeared in the compilation title Guitar Hero: Smash Hits.

Constant touring continued, culminating in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004, after which Oliveri was fired from the band by Homme for what was said to be disrespect of the group's fans and excessive partying. In July 2005 however, Homme claimed in a BBC Radio 1 interview that Oliveri was fired when Homme had become convinced that he had been physically abusive to his (Oliveri's) girlfriend. Homme said, "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that the band without him was "Queens Lite"; later Oliveri softened his opinion and said, "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." Josh and Nick reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri remains interested in rejoining the band.


Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)


, France. Included in this performance are two bandmates from the band Eleven ^{Eleven (band)} , Natasha Shneider and Alain Johannes, who joined the line-up for Lullabies to Paralyze and the supporting tour.
In 2005, Homme, along with Eleven ^{Eleven (band)} multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album.

The release featured the appearance of several guests, most notably ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan ^{Mark Lanegan} reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track This Lullaby) and appeared with the band on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted. It had been rumored that Homme fired Lanegan; however, this was subsequently refuted:


On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris ^{Era Vulgaris (album)} , and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Former Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts he stated he would not be appearing on the album. When questioned in an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive about the band settling down with one line-up, Homme replied with the following:

Troy Van Leeuwen plays guitar in his new band, Sweethead.
Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour.
Michael Shuman is now bassist in the band Mini Mansions.
Dean Fertita has become the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's new band, The Dead Weather.

Josh Homme was also working with the new supergroup "Them Crooked Vultures" with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.
According to guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, the band has tentative plans to reconvene in the summer of 2010.Throughout its career the band has been described as hard rock, alternative rock, art rock, heavy metal ^{heavy metal music} , stoner rock and several other genres ^{music genre} . Homme himself rejects the term stoner rock and has often described the band style as "robot rock" referring to the band's solid and repetitive riffs in the bands song structures. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album ^{Queens of the Stone Age (album)} as driving music, angular and recorded dry Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones ^{drone music} in German rock of the same period". The bands following album - Rated R ^{Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album)} - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests ^{Queens of the Stone Age contributors} and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. The band continued to experiment on their third album Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation including horn and string sections. Lullabies to Paralyze was in comparison to the bands previous releases a darker record, lacking the band's distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of long time member Nick Oliveri, The band also almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars ^{Semi-acoustic guitar} during the recording of the record. With Era Vulgaris ^{Era Vulgaris (album)} the band continued to evolve their signature sound with more dance-orientated elements and electronic ^{Electronic music} influences, while Homme has gone back to being the only vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.(2007–present) performing at the 2007 Wireless Festival in London.
, Queens of the Stone Age are:
*Joshua Homme – Founding and only permanent member of the band. He is primarily the band's lead vocalist and guitarist but has occasionally played bass, keyboards, piano and drums as well as other instruments. (1997–present)
*Troy Van Leeuwen – Has been the band's second guitarist since tour following the release of Songs for the Deaf, has also played lap steel, keyboards, piano, bass and provided backing vocals during live performances and subsequent recordings. (2002–present)
*Joey Castillo – Was called in to replace drummer Dave Grohl for the European leg of the Songs for the Deaf tour and has been a member since. (2002–present)
*Michael Shuman – Joined the band as their bassist and backing vocalist for the tour following the release of Era Vulgaris. (2007–present)
*Dean Fertita – Replaced the late Natasha Shneider as the band's keyboardist and backing vocalist, also plays guitar and various percussion instruments. (2007–present);Studio albums:
* Queens of the Stone Age ^{Queens of the Stone Age (album)} (1998)
* Rated R ^{Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album)} (2000)
* Songs for the Deaf (2002)
* Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
* Era Vulgaris ^{Era Vulgaris (album)} (2007)
* TBA (2010);Grammy awards